Startups Implosion Will Render $800 Emotional Support Robots For Children Into Useless Bricks

In our stories about how you don’t actually own what you’ve bought in the digital and IoT world, one of the sub-genres of those stories concern products bought by customers that become entirely or partially useless due to the decisions made by the seller. This itself can take a variety of forms, from video games that no longer function after backend servers are decommissioned to hardware that bricks once support from the selling company goes away. We live in an insane world where I can buy a widget as advertised today, only to find that it no longer works as advertised tomorrow due to no fault of my own. To claim that this is anti-consumer is an understatement on a level hitherto unrealized.

And it just keeps happening. Embodied is the name of a startup company that produced “emotional support robots” for children. Now, I’m going to leave to the side my own natural revulsion to the very concept of this product. I can feel the weight of my own 42 years pressing down on my brain and fueling my desire to shout to all who will listen, “What the hell is the matter with you people!?!?” Maybe these robots were useful in helping children and maybe they weren’t. I certainly am not qualified to say either way.

But I damned sure know they aren’t going to be useful any longer, as Embodied has announced that it is closing up shop, shutting down support for the robots it sold, which means these emotional support robots will no longer emotionally support anyone at all, be they children or otherwise. This is a result of the company losing a critical fundraiser in its latest funding round and its inability to secure any other source of needed funding.

When it first announced Moxie in April 2020, Embodied described the robot as a “safe and engaging animate companion for children designed to help promote social, emotional, and cognitive development.” It advertised play built around “best practices in child development and early childhood education”; changing weekly themes, like empathy, friendship, and respect; and activities like meditation, reading, and drawing with the bot.

But soon, none of those features will be available, making the pricey children’s toy virtually useless. According to Embodied, Moxie can’t perform core functionality without cloud connectivity. Worse, owners apparently have an uncertain and limited amount of time until the devices are bricked. Per Embodied:

“We don’t know the exact date when services will cease. It is likely to happen within days. However, we are exploring options to keep Moxie operational for as long as possible, although we cannot provide any guarantees.”

I’ll remind you again that this is a device designed to provide emotional support to young children. Imagine if a father came home to his child and informed them that one day in the near future he would be going out for a pack of cigarettes and never come back, to employ an old cliché. Not today, mind you. But soon! And perhaps he would stick around just a little bit longer, but, hey, no fucking guarantees here, you little brat! That might be emotionally devastating for a child who is using that robot/father for emotional support, no?

But don’t worry, Embodied is here to help… by giving you some talking points for talking to your kids about their robot friend becoming an empty husk of its former self.

Since Embodied marketed Moxie as a companion and development toy for children, there’s concern about kids potentially suffering an emotional toll after the robot abruptly becomes inoperable. Embodied has responded by promising to provide a guide for telling children about Moxie’s demise. Online, however, customers are already sharing videos of their sad kids learning that their robot friend will stop playing with them, as Axios pointed out.

In addition to the robot being bricked, Embodied noted that warranties, repair services, the corresponding parent app and guides, and support staff will no longer be accessible.

At this point, the emotionally distressed child might want to demand his or her money back for his departed father, to torture the analogy further. But that money is very much not forthcoming.

Embodied said it is “unable” to offer most Moxie owners refunds due to its “financial situation and impending dissolution.” The potential exception is for people who bought a Moxie within 30 days. For those customers, Embodied said that “if the company or its assets are sold, we will do our best to prioritize refunds for purchases,” but it emphasized that this is not a guarantee.

Embodied also acknowledged complications for those who acquired the expensive robot through a third-party lender. Embodied advised such customers to contact their lender, but it’s possible that some will end up paying interest on a toy that no longer works.

This is repetition at its worst, but, damn it, there needs to be consumer protection laws and enforcement around this sort of thing. These robots cost customers hundreds of dollars. Those same customers are about to own an $800 paperweight, all because of the cavalier manner in which these robots were designed and supported. Given the very purpose of the product, an insouciant approach to its design is nearly cruel.

Hopefully there will be attorneys involved here. This is one of those instances practically begging for some kind of class action litigation, if only to claw back some amount of the money innocent buyers forked over for these things.